Review: Where Men Win Glory

Earlier this year, I read my first Jon Krakauer book and was so impressed with his research and writing skills. I decided to take a look at his back list and have picked up more of his books but had kind of decided I wasn’t interested in Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. I figured I knew all there was to know about his story – a successful player who left the NFL to join the Army after 9/11. Then I read Heather’s review of the book and decided it was something I needed to read and learned that I really knew very little about Tillman’s tragic story.

As you would expect with Krakauer, the book was meticulously researched and fills in a lot of background. Krakauer shares Tillman’s life from a young age and details his reasons for joining the Army. He also recounts the way Tillman died and the way the government tried to cover it up and exploit it. Suffice it to say, I think they did a very poor job all the way around.

Krakauer also gives a lot of background on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and what led to them. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know a lot of the details. Again, I think the government could have handled many things better. Even with all the military maneuverings, I found Where Men Win Glory very compelling. It made me think and I talked about it a lot so I think it would make a great book club pick.

The audio version of the book is narrated by Scott Brick and he did an outstanding job, as I’ve come to expect from him.

Even though I haven’t read the book, this is a story that I am intimately familiar with. Pat Tillman went to school in San Jose, which is right next door to where I live. He was a star athlete in high school and in college. He didn’t star in the NFL, but, as you know, he did play professional football until he quit to join the military. Obviously our local daily (The Mercury News) covered the events leading to his death in great detail for a long time. I think there’s even a local race named after him. It’s a crazy compelling story.